Meeting w/ the Israeli delegation – UNCCP’s Cttee on Jerusalem 30th mtg. (Lausanne) – Summary record

COMMITTEE ON JERUSALEM

SUMMARY RECORD OF A MEETING BETWEEN THE COMMITTEE ON JERUSALEM

AND THE DELEGATION OF ISRAEL

(Thirtieth meeting of the Committee)

held Lausanne on Thursday,
 5 May 1949, 3:30 p.m.

The CHAIRMAN declared that the delegation of Israel was well acquainted with the task which had been entrusted to the Committee on Jerusalem, but that he thought it might be useful to outline briefly the work which the Committee hoped to accomplish. The United Nations General Assembly, in its resolution of 11 December 1948 had recorded certain decisions, two of which concerned the Jerusalem area and the Holy Places. Articles 7 and 8 of the resolution related directly to these questions. Article 7 dealt with the protection of the Holy Places and the question of free access to them, while article 8 charged the Conciliation Commission with the preparation of a statute for an international regime for the Jerusalem area, which must be placed under the effective control of the United Nations. Since the decisions of the General Assembly constituted orders, the Committee on Jerusalem was of the opinion that those orders must be carried out, in the spirit of and under the conditions prescribed in the resolution.

Acting on these instructions, the Committee on Jerusalem had spent several weeks in the city of Jerusalem, had made contact with representatives of the different religious communities and had had conversations with official and unofficial representatives of the interested parties. On the basis of information obtained and of its own observations, the Committee had drawn up several draft proposals for an international regime for the Jerusalem area; but before taking a final decision it deemed it useful to ascertain the views of the various delegations now present in Lausanne. To this end the Committee had drafted two questionnaires, one dealing with the Holy Places and the other with the Jerusalem area, which it was now submitting to the delegations in order to obtain their opinions.

The Chairman wished to make it clear that the questionnaires did not commit the Jerusalem Committee in any way, nor would they prejudge the final decision. The delegation of Israel might study them at its leisure and communicate its replies as soon as convenient. A list of the Holy Places, compiled by the Committee, would be made available to the Israeli delegation; the latter might make such alterations in the list as it deemed necessary.

Mr. SASSON thanked the Committee for its welcome and expressed his satisfaction at the opportunity of collaborating with the Committee. He would study the questionnaires and communicate his replies to the Committee at the earliest possible moment.